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Short-film features Oklahoma prison program that teaches women how to prevent HIV

The Tulsa World on Sunday examined a short documentary film about incarcerated women in Oklahoma and a peer education program that teaches them about HIV prevention and other social issues.

23 Jul 2008

Human Rights Watch urges Iran to release or charge two HIV/AIDS advocates

Human Rights Watch on Monday said that Iranian authorities have not disclosed why two physicians known for their work on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment were detained last month or where they are being held, BBC News reports.

23 Jul 2008

Column discusses HIV/AIDS risks for black women

If the popular television series "Sex and the City" "chronicl[ed] the sexually liberated adventures of four black women" instead of white women, "one of the lead characters could credibly have tested positive for" HIV, Johnathon Briggs, director of communications at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, writes in a Chicago Tribune opinion piece.

23 Jul 2008

Antiretroviral treatment programs should take poverty, hunger into account, report says

Programs that provide access to no-cost antiretroviral drugs have had a significant impact on people living with HIV/AIDS, but they also should take into account the effects of poverty and hunger, according to a report recently released by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, PlusNews reports.

23 Jul 2008

Singapore Ministry of Health calls on more physicians to offer anonymous rapid HIV tests

Singapore's Ministry of Health recently called on more private general practitioners in the country to provide anonymous rapid HIV tests, which currently are available only at two clinics, the Straits Times reports.

23 Jul 2008

Disease prevention programs cannot reduce costs in long term, columnist writes

The "formulation" that disease prevention programs can reduce health care costs in the long term "is a pleasant fantasy," syndicated columnist Froma Harrop writes in the Providence Journal.

23 Jul 2008

CDC says screen immigrants for TB before they enter the U.S.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. say immigrants coming into the country from Africa and Southeast Asia should be tested and treated for tuberculosis (TB) before they arrive in order to prevent the importation of the disease.

23 Jul 2008

Researchers urge integrating TB into HIV care

In resource-limited settings where tuberculosis is a major cause of mortality among HIV patients and where a multidrug-resistant TB epidemic is emerging, researchers are pressing for approaches to integrate TB prevention and treatment into HIV care and treatment.

22 Jul 2008

16% of all new HIV cases reported in Canada linked to immigrants

About 16% of all new HIV cases reported in Canada in 2005 were linked to immigrants from countries where HIV is prevalent, according to a report recently released by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, the CP/Toronto Star reports.

22 Jul 2008

Russia considers ending mandatory HIV testing for foreigners entering country

Following U.S. Senate approval of legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that includes a provision to ease HIV/AIDS-related travel restrictions, Russian government officials have said they are considering replicating the U.S. measure, "an indication that Russia may end mandatory HIV tests for foreign residents," the Moscow Times reports.

22 Jul 2008

Southern U.S. not receiving adequate Federal funding to provide HIV/AIDS prevention, support, report says

The Southern U.S. is not receiving enough federal funding to provide adequate HIV prevention, treatment and support programs, according to a report scheduled to be released on Monday by the Southern AIDS Coalition, the Birmingham News reports.

22 Jul 2008

PBS' 'News Hour' examines efforts of Baylor's Pediatric AIDS Corps to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa

PBS' "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on Thursday examined efforts from the Baylor College of Medicine's Pediatric AIDS Corps to fight HIV/AIDS among children in Malawi.

22 Jul 2008

IMF programs and tuberculosis outcomes in post-communist countries

International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans were associated with a 16.6% rise in death rates from tuberculosis (TB) in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern European countries between 1992 and 2002, finds a study in this week's PLoS Medicine.

22 Jul 2008

International goals to reduce malaria burdens not likely to be achieved

For malaria control goals to be achieved, we must in the future tie funding commitments closer to level of need, says new research by Bob Snow and colleagues from the Kenyan Medical Research Institute-Oxford University-Wellcome Trust Collaborative Programme.

22 Jul 2008

Study outlines measures to limit effects of pandemic flu on nursing homes

The greatest danger in a pandemic flu outbreak is that it could spread quickly and devastate a broad swath of people across the United States before there is much of a chance to react. The result could be a nation brought to its knees by a disease run rampant.

21 Jul 2008

AHF chart shows how Senate global AIDS bill will save five to seven million lives

A chart prepared by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which provides AIDS care and treatment services to more than 79,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide, shows how the Senate version of legislation to re-authorize PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the successful US global AIDS program, will be able to save five to seven million lives over the next five years.

21 Jul 2008

Viral recombination another way HIV fools the immune system

When individuals infected with HIV become infected with a second strain of the virus, the two viral strains can exchange genetic information, creating a third, recombinant strain of the virus. It is known that the presence of multiple viral strains, called superinfection, frequently leads to a loss of immune control of viral levels.

21 Jul 2008